North Korea Condemns the NATO Summit

North Korea condemned the United States and its allies for strengthening military blocs and accelerating the arms race, which it said was also evident at this week's NATO summit.

Pyongyang accused NATO leaders of portraying North Korea's exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights as a threat, according to the country's ministry of foreign affairs.

According to the ministry, the alliance has demonstrated a stronger determination to pursue confrontation between the blocs by increasing military spending and deepening military cooperation with allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the NATO summit in Ankara, officials announced military purchases and defense industry agreements worth more than $50bn. Meanwhile, European allies continue to face pressure from US President Donald Trump to shoulder a greater share of the alliance's defense burden.

On the sidelines of the summit, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said he hoped to expand Seoul's cooperation with NATO allies in research and development, including cutting-edge technologies, as well as in the production of weapons systems.

According to Pyongyang, the summit demonstrated that NATO is an organization focused on war and confrontation that pursues exclusive geopolitical interests at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

It claims that Western efforts to force it to abandon its nuclear weapons are now irrevocably a thing of the past. Denuclearization efforts, the ministry said, should instead focus first on the alleged attempts by South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons under US protection, as well as on the nuclear ambitions of NATO member states participating in the nuclear sharing arrangement.

According to the ministry, North Korea will protect its sovereignty, security interests and peace in the region by responsibly exercising its sovereign rights.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that North Korea had decided on measures to strengthen its nuclear forces both "quantitatively and qualitatively". Leader Kim Jong Un is also calling for the modernization of the military.

(Reuters, luc)